ORLANDO, Fla. – The man charged in the deadly shooting in downtown Orlando during Halloween celebrations in 2024 acted in a premeditated manner, prosecutors argued Thursday in opening statements.
“He went there to kill as many people as he possibly could,” assistant state attorney Frank George told jurors in his opening statement, referring to defendant Jaylen Edgar, who sat just feet away.
Edgar, 17, at the time of his arrest, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
[WATCH: Jury selected for the 2024 downtown Orlando Halloween murder trial]
Tyrek Hill, 25, and Timothy Schmidt, Jr., 19, died in the shooting.
Five of the seven people who survived their gunshot wounds testified for the state Thursday on the first day of testimony in Edgar’s trial.
“He pulls the firearm out of his waist,” Anthony Berry recounted, testifying that he saw Edgar push past a crowd of people, pull a gun out, and start shooting.
Berry was shot in the head.
“I don’t even know if I was still alive at that point,” Berry recalled thinking.
Berry said the shooting has led to a “mental permanent injury.”
Another gunshot victim who testified was Jonathan Valle, who was shot in his head and foot.
“I can’t be in the sun too long,” Valle testified, when asked about the lasting effects of his injuries. “I have to lay down pretty slow. If not, I get vertigo and seizures.”
In the morning Thursday, police officers testified about their response to the shooting in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, 2024.
[WATCH: Surveillance footage shows chaos of downtown Orlando mass shooting]
Prosecutors had the officers describe surveillance video and body-worn camera footage that depicted the response to the shooting.
The body camera footage captured the chaos in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. While partygoers dressed in Halloween costumes were frantically running for safety, officers are seen running toward the gunshots.
Michael Hernandez — who is currently a police officer in Miami but was working as an OPD officer at the time — tackled and detained the gunman, whom he identified in the courtroom as Edgar.
Hernandez testified that he had seen Edgar a couple of hours before the shooting, when he demanded that Edgar get down from an Orlando Fire Department vehicle.
Prosecutors also showed surveillance video which depicted what prosecutors called the “execution of Tyrek Hill.” The presentation of the video prompted gasps in the gallery, with a few people crying softly.
Junior Barrett, Edgar’s defense attorney, declined to deliver an opening statement Thursday.
Barrett indicated earlier this week during jury selection that his client is still exploring the possibility of invoking a not guilty by reason of insanity defense.
Edgar wrote a letter to Judge Keith Carsten last month, taking “full responsibility” for the shooting but claiming that he was suffering from “extreme mental or emotional disturbance” at the time.
The trial will resume Friday morning at 9 a.m.